New logo for TypePad APR 23 2004
New logo for TypePad. I don't think this is an improvement. Pac-Man on a string?
There are 29 reader comments
18 23 200411:18AM
This was unveiled at SXSWi, on postcards offering discounts to attendees.
I agree, a bit harsh. I saw the lily pad right away.
26 23 200411:26AM
i'm on typepad... i think it's an overall improvement, but it's only partially redesigned, and that part could have been taken up a notch, or three.
41 23 200411:41AM
How am I being harsh? "I don't think this is an improvement" is pretty tame. My first reaction was "yuck, what the hell is that?"
52 23 200411:52AM
That's a lily pad???
44 23 200412:44PM
Pac-Man works for me, as does pizza being served.
50 23 200412:50PM
A lilly pad is such an unfamilar thing to most people. I grew up around them and even I had to give it a hard look to figure out what it was. A poor and unclear illustration.
59 23 200412:59PM
ohhhh its a lily pad. got it. i just thought it was some random elements thrown together in some kind of auto-logo-generator. I DO see pacman on a string though
07 23 2004 1:07PM
I think it's pretty, m'self.
11 23 2004 1:11PM
Doesn't do it for me I'm afraid. I think the Lilly-pad idea is a little tenuous at best and it seems a strange backward step to me. Usually 6A's design is so clear cut and well thought out, so certainly a head-scratcher. I'd put money on it not lasting 6 months.
01 23 2004 2:01PM
Looks like a slightly out of scale cartoon speech bubble to me, especially in the smaller icon. Odd color choice too.
04 23 2004 2:04PM
Heh. I had *no clue* that was a lily pad. I actually had no clue what it was at all. It got a resounding "meh." from me. Not that I care what logo TypePad has, I'm just sayin'. What was interesting to me was that I could not, for the life of me, remember what it looked like before. Perhaps for branding purposes anything was an improvement.
27 23 2004 2:27PM
I'd rather have the improvements on typepad itself than the logo. Logos are overrated. Besides, its no worse than kinja's awful logo.
43 23 2004 2:43PM
Min Jung thinks it looks like a woman's crack from behind with a tampon string dragging out."
55 23 2004 2:55PM
I like it ok -- it's certainly better than most of the logos out there, though I usually discount relative statements like that. At any rate, I think it works better in the vertical treatment than it does in the horizontal -- it suffers in the reduction of the stem, which I don't even think it needs to read as a lily pad (which I got instantly; the pad is the thing, not the stem -- with apologies to the hydrobiologists).
What might have been nice could have been the hind legs of a frog leaping out of the frame into the top-right corner. That would have helped jog the visual memories of people who've forgotten what a lily pad is, though that might not have reduced well, either. One could also make the argument that there's no reason it should have been reduced that small on the subpages in the first place. The horizontal treatment is a good size on the front page -- they could keep it that way on the subpages, or use the vertical treatment instead as the primary mark, which I like better anyway.
59 23 2004 2:59PM
Lia slipped by while I was responding. MJ's got an interesting take on where tampons go; I've heard of people getting a new asshole ripped for them, but seriously, a new vag-hole?
08 23 2004 3:08PM
Never would have gotten the lilypad. Without the stem, at least it could retain a certain abstract elegance (or something). My first thought was, "yuck," too. I didn't see any tampon strings or anything, but there is something gross about it in an organic sort of way (what's that?!).
30 23 2004 3:30PM
Yeah I saw that earlier today. Sorry, I didn't see lilly pad till someone told me to, and I still don't really. It really is pretty weak.
26 23 2004 5:26PM
Maybe i'm stating the obvious here, but is it not supposed to be a lily pad, AND a manual typewriter key? i think that makes it kind of cool conceptually, though i definitely saw the pac man thing first. maybe because i was biased by this post.
30 23 2004 5:30PM
Maybe it's some kind of Freudian Rorschach-style test and what you see says something about your personality. I have to agree with other comments, on first glance I thought it looked a bit rude. Make of that what you will. If you see Pac-man on string.. well, you're a probably a geek.
38 23 2004 8:38PM
Lily Pad? I thought it was some sort of representation of the (original) iMac mouse. I guess I can see the lily pad now... I've come to expect such wonderful designs from Mena in the past that this one surprises me for it's lack of clarity.
08 23 200411:08PM
MJ's got an interesting take on where tampons go
I don't know, Chester, maybe you've never seen a woman naked before, but tampon strings hang between our legs -- visible from the front and the back.
51 24 200410:51AM
Yaaark!
07 24 2004 6:07PM
Strange. It gave me a tampon-y vibe too. I honestly don't think that it looks tampon-related, but when I first looked at it, I thought, "What the hell is that, a tampon?"
49 24 2004 7:49PM
Totally got the tampon vibe, too (I hope I never say that again).
49 25 2004 4:49AM
Between the legs is one thing; protruding from the cheek is another. And do try to get my name right when you critique me, Leah.
26 25 2004 3:26PM
As my grandfather used to say, "One persons' Pac-Man is another persons' ass-cheek."
04 26 2004 7:04PM
Forgive me while I have a z-lister moment.
"GASP! I've been linked off of KOTTKE!"
(Ok, in the comments section. blah blah blah. whatever. I feel like Ernie when he got blogrolled by Margaret Cho.)
And yeah. Tampons. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who saw that.
46 27 2004 4:46PM
At least the Movable Type 3.0 Logo is way better.
This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.
ramanan12 23 200410:12AM
I wouldn't be so harsh. It does look like a lily pad. I don't now if it is the nicest logo in the world mind you.